Arabic Letter Ghayn Initial Form

Read it as ghayn, the Arabic letter with a dot above. In a connected word, this shape appears at the beginning when the letter joins to the next one. The dot distinguishes ghayn from ʿayn, ع. The letter’s Arabic name is ghayn; the shape does not add a new meaning.

Arabic script developed gradually from Nabataean Aramaic writing, an earlier script used for the language of the Nabataeans. Inscriptions at En Avdat and An-Namāra are among the evidence for this transition; the cited dates are 88/9 CE, 125/6 CE, and 328 CE. The letter is also used in Arabic-derived writing traditions including Persian, Turkish, and Urdu. In some Arabic words, lexicographers recorded alternation between ghayn and ʿayn and debated which form came first.

Why is ﻏ a separate Unicode character?

It preserves compatibility with older character sets.

Arabic normally stores the base letter غ. A text renderer chooses its isolated, initial, medial, or final shape from its position and joining neighbors. The separate forms are compatibility characters for older data; ordinary Arabic text uses the base letter and lets shaping handle its appearance.

NFKC normalization maps ﻏ to غ. Use غ for ordinary searchable text; retain ﻏ only when an older format or the exact encoded form matters.